While there is little doubt that NVIDIA will continue to expand on its GTX 400 series lineup, EXPreview is claiming that a new GTX 460 is already in the works and will be launching in the next few months.

The rumour is that the new card will use the P1025 reference PCB design, featuring 1GB of GDDR5 memory as well as 256-bit of memory interface, but no meaty details such as clock speeds, stream processors or concrete pricing were revealed.

A key point is that AIC’s will have free reign with the design of the cards as supposedly there will be no strict reference model. This is quite an attractive announcement given that it will allow certain vendors to highlight their products and give consumers more options rather than just basing purchasing decisions off vendor allegiances.

The card is said to compete on the same price level as the ATI Radeon HD 5850 and should hit shelves around June 1st, 2010.

Could the GTX 460 actually bring some healthy competition to the mid-range price market? Is the notion to let card manufacturer’s design their own cards a good idea?